When Keith Rabois introduced he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures in January, it got here as a shock to many within the enterprise capital ecosystem — and never simply because Rabois is an enormous identify within the business.
It was shocking as a result of not like in lots of different fields, enterprise capitalists don’t historically transfer round very a lot — particularly people who attain the associate or basic associate stage as Rabois had.
VC funds have 10-year life cycles and companions have good cause to remain that course. In some cases, they might be a “key man” on a agency’s fund, that means that in the event that they go away, the fund’s LPs have the precise to drag their capital out in the event that they select. Many companions and GPs even have a few of their very own cash invested of their companies’ funds, which provides them additional cause to stay round.
So, whereas big-name investor strikes in enterprise capital aren’t frequent, they appear to have change into so in current months. Up to now this yr, there have been notable cases of buyers returning to outdated companies, hanging out on their very own or taking a pause from investing completely.
Right here’s who we all know of thus far:
Might
- Terri Burns introduced on Might 13 that she was launching a brand new enterprise agency known as Kind Capital. Burns was beforehand the primary Black ladies associate at GV and left the agency again in 2022. Her new fund will concentrate on pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
- Final week TechCrunch scooped that Fika Ventures co-founder Eva Ho was going to transition out of the agency after Fika completed deploying its present fund. Ho is stepping again for private causes. The transfer was confirmed by the agency in a weblog submit on Might 9.
- On Might 9, Alison Lange Engel introduced she was taking over the function of CEO at Ceros, an AI-powered design firm. Lange Engel left Greycroft in December, the place she had been a associate since 2019, to take the function.
- After 15 years, Vic Singh introduced on X that he was stepping down from Eniac Ventures on Might 1. Singh helped launch the agency in 2009 and is planning to launch a brand new agency of his personal.
April
- On April 30, Ethan Kurzweil introduced he was leaving his function as associate at Bessemer Enterprise Companions after 16 years. Kurzweil shall be launching an early-stage-focused funding agency, in keeping with reporting from Axios. Kurzweil will launch the agency with Kristina Shen, who left Andreessen Horowitz after 4 years on March 29, and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures after eight years final fall.
- On April 1, Christina Farr introduced that she’d be leaving OMERS Ventures, the place she has served as a principal investor and the lead of the agency’s well being tech observe since December 2020. Farr introduced on X that she’d be engaged on her well being tech e-newsletter, writing a ebook targeted on the facility storytelling can have on companies, and consulting well being tech founders.
March
- After six years as a associate at Accel, Ethan Choi introduced that he’d be leaving the agency to move to Khosla Ventures in March. Choi shall be targeted on growth-stage investing at his new agency and has backed such firms as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password.
- Whereas most of the current VC strikes have been by of us seeking to begin one thing new, or tackle a special alternative, not all of them have been. On March 13, Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital introduced that it fired companions Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku. Bloomberg reported that this was on account of a matter involving elevating cash for AI startup Groq.
- Rabois was not the one particular person seeking to boomerang again to an outdated hang-out on this current rise of investor reshuffling. On March 5, Miles Grimshaw introduced that he’d be returning to Thrive Capital as a basic associate after serving the identical place at Benchmark Capital for 3 years. Grimshaw initially began at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed such firms as Airtable, Lattice, and Monzo, amongst others.
- Whereas transitioning from operator to VC is a typical profession development within the startup ecosystem, it isn’t for everyone. On March 4, Sam Blond introduced he had come to that conclusion and can be leaving Founders Fund, the place he had been a associate for about 18 months. Blond mentioned he would return to working and has held roles at firms corresponding to Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.
January
- After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan introduced she was leaving the agency on January 23. Chan had served as one of many agency’s basic companions the final 5 years and has backed firms corresponding to Cider, KoBold and Whatnot.
TechCrunch is monitoring the current enterprise strikes and can proceed to replace this text as they occur. If in case you have any ideas or callouts to carry to our consideration, contact me right here: rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.
This submit was initially revealed on Might 1. It has since been up to date on Might 13 to incorporate further strikes inside enterprise.
